Voices
by HoolianAuror
Summary: It has been nearly a year since the Reach Invasion. Starling, Black Canary's protégé and nephew, has been with the team nearly that long and things have never gone more smoothly. But, the earth's enemies never stop scheming or multiplying and things are about to get a whole lot rougher. To top it all off, he has started hearing voices.
1. Chapter 1

"Starling! Look out!" Aqualad's cry proved unnecessary. Black Canary's protégé rolled neatly out of the path of the android, which had been descending on him from behind, before leaping high and kicking it in the back, sending it into the fire stream of his previous opponent. He did all of this before the warning cleared Aqualad's lips.

"Crash!" Kid Flash exclaimed.

"Thanks, Bart." Starling replied. "Now take care of the other one! Will ya?"

"Oh! Right!" Kid answered before cannonballing into the second android and vibrating his hand through its head.

"So! How'dwedo? Huh?" Bart blurted out motioning backwards to the broken robots lying on the training room floor.

"That was quite impressive." Aqualad replied. "Considering, those two nearly killed the entirety of the original team."

"Well that's great." Starling said dryly. "But why are we fighting knock-offs of robots the team beat more than six years ago?"

"First, our enemies have a way of not staying dead." Aqualad answered patiently. "Second, by finding new answers to old problems, you not only gain experience but, also provide older members with a new perspective."

A self-satisfied grin spread across Starling's face as he stuck out his hand. "Pay up Bart." Kid superspeed slapped five dollars into his hand. At the confused look on Kaldur's face he explained. "Bart has been complaining about the training. So we had a bet about who was right about the reason we kept fighting old opponents."

"And you won?" Kaldur sounded surprised.

"Yep, classic Black Canary thinking." Starling answered.

"While, I would just love to hear what exactly that was about." Nightwing said from where he had slipped in. "I need your help."

"Crash! Nightwing mission!" Bart exclaimed.

"Yeah, super crash..." Starling echoed skeptically.

"What, exactly, do you need our help with?" Aqualad asked a wary edge creeping into his voice.

"Simple surveillance." Nightwing replied flippantly.

"Surveillance does not require an entire squad, Nightwing." Aqualad countered.

"Okay…So I'm tracking intergang's extraterrestrial weapons supplier."

"And you think you have found them?"

"I've identified the drop location in Metropolis. I believe the tech is Apokoliptan."

"So that's why you're here." Starling spoke up. "You want Superboy and me to help you neutralize the tech?"

"Or at least identify it. You two are the closest thing that we have to experts on New Genessian and Apokoliptan technologies." Nightwing explained.

"Let me guess, M'ggan and Connor are already waiting on the bioship?" Starling snarked.

"Yes and I was hoping to take the three of you…"

"I am sorry Nightwing." Aqualad interrupted. "But I cannot accompany, the team currently has 3 squads out and I need to remain here to monitor them. You may; however, take these two and Supergirl."

"Good thinking, some extra muscle couldn't hurt."

"She is also fairly unproven in the field and a mission with three of our most experienced members should prove useful."

"Four, Kaldur." Nightwing corrected. "Don't forget Starling has been at this, nearly, as long as I have."

"I did not." Kaldur retorted with an unconvincingly teasing smile. "I was only including members who have proven themselves as team players."

"Gee, thanks Kaldur." was all the response Nightwing could muster.

"While I'd love to help the two of you work whatever this is." Starling cut in. "But, I'm assuming that this mission is time sensitive."

"Yeah, sure is." Nightwing confirmed. "Let's grab Kara and get going."


	2. Chapter 2

_Mind Link Established._ M'gann's voice spoke directly to the thoughts of the entire squad.

 _Great._ Bart groused, uncharacteristically. _I don't think that I'll ever get used to that._

 _Join the club._ Starling growled

"You two do know you can still speak out loud, right?" Superboy snapped. "The Bioship contains any noise we make."

"We know Connor, but that doesn't mean we have to." Starling countered. "And you would still hear us."

 _Boys._ M'ggan's comment came across with the distinct impression of an eye roll. Kara's agreement washed over the group a second later.

"And on that note." Nightwing interceded. "Let's get this party started."

"Sweet! Assignment time!" Supergirl burst out, earning her cocked eyebrows from the rest of the group, including Wolf.

"Umm…Yeah." Nightwing continued. "The drop is an active construction site, perfect cover for boom tube activity. Supergirl and Miss M will take up position on the building across from the drop site. Superboy and KF you two I need you two to patrol the east and west sides, make sure no one sneaks up on us. Starling and I will stay in the Bioship and patrol north and south."

 _In position._ Supergirl confirmed.

 _Me too._ Kid Flash added.

 _Ditto._ Superboy finished.

 _Good, keep your eyes peeled. And remember this is a stealth mission, do not engage unless absolutely necessary._ Nightwing replied.

 _Where's 'Mis?_ A voice that sounded a lot like Kid Flash's entered Starling's thoughts.

 _What, Bart?_ Starling asked back.

 _I didn't say anything._ Kid Flash's indignant response came back.

 _Okay…_

"You alright, Bud?" Nightwing asked.

"Yeah, yeah" Starling answered. "I'm fine, must have just been a reverb or something."

"Okay…" Now it was Nightwing's turn to be speechless with confusion

 _Steve, where's 'Mis?_ The voice asked again.

 _Okay, Bart._ Starling snapped. _This time I know it was you and how do you know my secret ID._

 _I have no idea what you are talking about._ Kid Flash retorted. _And I have NO idea who you are._

 _Sorry. I could have sworn._

"Okay, dude you are so not traught." Nightwing exclaimed. "Steve, what's wrong?"

"Seriously, Dick?" Steve shouted. "Secret ID's aren't sacred to you, anymore?"

"They can't hear us, Steve." Dick defended. "So, I ask again. What's wrong."

"I don't know. I think I've been cooped up too long on the Watchtower. I need some air." Starling stuttered. "Drop me here, I'll cover the North and you can get in position over the site."

"Fine." Nightwing conceded before opening a hatch. "But, we are going to talk about this later."

"Whatever." Starling responded before dropping through the opening.

As soon as his feet touched the ground Starling melted into the shadows. Slinking along the edge of one of the buildings he took up position on a fire escape overlooking the site.

 _Steve._ The voice had returned. _Why won't you answer me?_

Starling spun around looking for the source of the voice and found Kid Flash. Only this speedster had red hair and green eyes.

"Wally." Starling whispered.

 _Steve, whe-_ Wally's image started before snapping out of existence.

 _M'ggan._ Starling thought and felt it stop within his own head. He started towards the street before jumping back at the sight of a winged shadow gliding over the street.

"Nightwing, we've got company." Starling radioed as he sprinted through the alleyways.

"Starling! Radio Silence!" Nightwing snapped back.

"M'gann's down." Starling replied. "I'm going to get her and Kara. Then we need to book it!"

He stopped dead in his tracks when he came to the street. Bart knelt in the middle of the street, surrounded by winged soldiers in hawk's head helmets.

"They have KF." He radioed curtly.

"Who?" Nightwing asked.

"Thanagarians." Starling replied. "Get backup, they have Apokoliptan tech."

"We have Nightwing too." A deep very un-Nightwing like voice crackled over his comm-link.

"What do you want?" Starling seethed.

"We just want to make our drop." The Thanagarian answered. "And your friends are trying to stop that. So, just turn yourself over, we make our drop, and then you all get to go home."

"Yeah, likely." Starling snarked. Rolling his eyes, he grabbed his staff, extended it to its full length, and advanced on the Thanagarians in the street.

Two broke off to meet him and found out just how powerful a sonic scream could be. As soon as they tumbled to the ground, he turned the stream of sound towards the main group. However, instead of being bowled over the Leader stuck out his hand out, holding staff almost identical to Starling's own, and the sound waves dissipated into nothingness.

"Same model dampener as yours. I believe." The Thanagarian chuckled at Starling's shock. "So what happens now boy?"

Starling stared for a few seconds longer. Then turned and ran back down the alley into the shadows leaving a wide eyed Kid Flash, surrounded by soldiers, in the middle of the street.


	3. Chapter 3

"So much for being a team player." Nightwing griped, from where he was shackled beside Superboy.

"Have a little faith, Nightwing!" Supergirl urged. "Starling won't abandon us. He's probably making a plan to rescue us right now."

"Fat lot of good that will do you." One of the Thanagarian guards taunted, from his post among the cages housing Wolf and a few other animals. "We have the whole place covered."

"Whatever." Superboy muttered. "He's beaten some of the best tacticians on earth."

"Well, it's a good thing we're not from Earth then." Another guard said from his position by the bioship. But, his final word turned into a supersonic, concussive blast. The burst sent the guard flying in one direction and his mace in another.

Starling dove from the alley and scooped up the weapon, before charging up the plank to the bioship.

 _SB._ Starling's voice crackled across the mental link. _Think you've got that thing we've been working on down?_

 _I guess._ Superboy answered, not sounding too certain.

 _Good. Cause' I need you to keep the guards busy so I can free the bioship._

 _Right._ Superboy affirmed. He screwed up his face and, after a few seconds, the shield on his chest began to glow a light blue.

 _Connor?_ Miss Martian exclaimed. _What are you doing._

 _Watch._ Superboy replied, before blasting one of the guards with heat vision. "It worked!" he cried in surprise.

"Awesome! Now get us out huh?" Kid Flash quipped.

"Of course!" Superboy exclaimed as if he had completely forgotten that they were, in any way, inconvenienced, much less incarcerated. But, once he came back to his sense he set about cutting himself free. Once he was free, he sliced Supergirl free and set in on the advancing guards.

"Get the other's free. Hurry!" He commanded, smashing guards with sparks electricity streaming from his fists.

"On it!" She snapped off a salute and smashed the restraints holding Kid Flash, before starting on the generators powering the "heat lamp" subduing Miss Martian.

"I think that will be enough of that." The Thanagarian Commander stated matter-of-factly as he descended from the roof top surrounded by another half dozen soldiers and holding a glowing green rock. As soon as he flew within in a few yards of the group, both Kryptonians dropped like rocks.

"Is that?" Supergirl managed to get out.

"Yeah." Superboy grunted. "Kryptonite."

"Yes, little Kryptonians." The Commander smirked. "I was told it would not have so powerful an effect on you, boy. But, then again, I was also told you did not have the full powers of a Kryptonian or you would have been secured more thoroughly. A mistake we shall not make again."

 _KF, what's going on out there?_ Starling called.

 _They've got Kryptonite. We could really use your help._

 _Free M'gann. I'll take care of the Thanagarians._

Bart super sped through remaining generators. As soon as he had busted the last one, the bioship came to life. Itmowed through the Thanagarians, knocking the Kryptonite from the Commander's grasp.

 _Grab the rock and be ready to jump aboard when I come back around._ Starling commanded.

 _Um, ok._ Kid Flash replied.

The bioship banked tightly and swooped down for a second pass, this time as it swept by the plank extended, allowing Kid to zip aboard and Starling to leap off, wielding the stolen mace. He took out two soldiers with a single sweep of the weapon and another three with a sonic blast from his hand.

"Give up boy, we have you out numbered." The Commander spit gesturing towards the aliens laid out on the ground. "And, your friends are not in any condition to help."

"They aren't my only friends." Starling smirked before blasting the locks off the cages containing Wolf and the other animals with a scream. The released creatures leapt out at their captors driving away all but the Commander.

"Clever." The Commander admitted, extending his staff. "But, I still have this little trinket."

"Well, I've got one of your toys now." Starling replied with a crooked grin. "I guess we'll see whose is better."

"I suppose we shall." The Commander answered before charging Starling with a wild swing, which was easily slipped. Starling countered with several calculated swings, which were solidly blocked. The fight wore on for a few minutes with neither gaining the upper hand.

"It would appear we are evenly matched." Starling quipped.

"Yes it would." The Commander replied and released the sonic energy he had absorbed earlier.

Starling stuck out his hand and reduced the attack to nothingness. "Unlike you, I don't _need_ a dampener to absorb sound." With that he advanced, igniting the mace and ramming the energized weapon directly into the Thanagarian's staff. The move caused the staff to feedback and knock the Commander out cold.

"Guess we weren't so evenly matched after all." Starling smirked. "And, apparently, your employer forgot to mention the dampener's reaction to Nth metal."

"That was so crash, Dude!" Kid Flash exclaimed as he disembarked the Bioship. "How did you know that would happen?"

"Training with the Hawks." Starling replied. "You get the Kryptonite secured?"

"Of course."

"Good let's get the others and get out of here." Starling ordered.

"Sound's great, but that may be a problem." Kid Flash answered, pointing to where their teammates lay, surrounded by Wolf, a snarling, oversized mountain lion with streaks of bright yellow fur down it's sides, and a trio of menacing looking eagles.

"Great. More pets." Starling muttered. "Wolf, can you tell your friends we want to help?"

Wolf barked and the other animals stood down.

"How did you know that would work." Kid Flash questioned.

"Didn't." Starling answered simply.

"Mhhhm." Miss Martian uttered skeptically. "That's explanation number, about two-thousand, I'm going need after tonight."

"Okay, Miss M." Starling agreed. "We can talk later but, first can get away from the evil alien's drop point."

"Good point." M'gann conceded. "But don't think you're off the hook."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Starling snapped off a sarcastic solution, before helping to get everyone aboard the bioship.


	4. Chapter 4

"All in all I would say that was a successful mission. We found out who's been supplying Intergang and managed to recover a large cache of alien tech." Nightwing said, as he came up from securing their haul. "I mean, it could have gone more smoothly but, when has a mission gone smoothly. Thanks for untying me by the way."

"Hey, we got you, didn't we?" Starling quipped back.

"Barely." Nightwing retorted.

"Whatever!" Miss Martian cut off Nightwing's complaints. "You're fine and you know we wouldn't have left you. Now I want the explanations I was promised."

"Well then you had better ask some questions then, hadn't you?" Starling snarked, as he swiveled around to face the group.

"How about, we start off with the honest answer to Kid's question?" Miss Martian replied. "How did you know that Wolf would be able to call off the other animals?"

"Once again, I did not." Starling insisted. "It was just an educated guess. They seemed to have similar 'enhancements' to those Wolf underwent and I figured that they had somehow formed a bond. Good enough for you?"

"Acceptable. Not fully believed but, acceptable." M'gann answered, with an uncharacteristic air of imperiousness. "Next question. How did you manage to get the bioship to respond?"

"Once I managed to disengage the locks the Thanagarians had on her, she was configured for manual piloting so I just used that." Starling stated nonchalantly.

"Believable." Nightwing interrupted Miss Martian's reply. "Except, you let her fly herself around. Not even Impulse could have gotten to the controls and interfaced with the ship fast enough to pull off the turn it made."

"So, there is no way you could have pulled off what you did." Miss Martian agreed. "Unless, you somehow had a psychic connection with my girl."

"Which is impossible…" Superboy added, a look of understanding slowly spreading over his face.

"Unless, I'm a Martian." Starling finished Superboy's thought, narrowing his eyes.

"Which you are." Miss Martian stated simply, leaving no room for argument.

"Which I am." Starling confirmed. "Sort of…"

Everyone stared at him slack jawed. Even Bart was completely speechless. M'gann seemed the most shocked by Starling's announcement, even though she had been the one to figure out his secret. Her confusion transferred to the bioship, which began to vibrate and nearly collided with a skyscraper before she regained her composure.

"Watch out!" Bart and Supergirl cried in unison.

"Right, right! Hello Megan!" Miss Martian scolded herself. "It's just, what do you mean you're 'Sort of' a Martian?"

Starling shifted nervously in his seat at this question. "Well…I'm Half-Martian."

"Half-Martian?" Nightwing questioned. "I did not see that coming."

"Yeah, my dad was Martian and my mom was…"

"Atlantean?" Nightwing finished.

"Yep, that." Starling answered a little too quickly. "How'd you know?"

"Really?" Nightwing replied, incredulously. "I am a detective, give me some credit. Plus, SB's glowing S was a pretty obvious clue."

"Especially, after you cued it." Superboy added.

"Thanks for the support." Starling said dryly, narrowing his eyes.

"Wait." M'gann ordered, her face filled with confusion. "If you're Half-Martian, do you still have a Martian form?"

In answer, Starling shifted. His hair turned translucent white and he grew an extra foot over his already large, six foot four frame. The biggest change was his skin. His blue skin. Supergirl was the first to recover from her shock.

"Um, not to presume. But, shouldn't you be like, green?" She piped up. At the collective looks of disdain from her teammates, she added "Just saying."

"No Kara." Superboy scolded his "cousin".

"It's fine Connor." Miss Martian comforted her boyfriend. "She has no reason to be aware of Martian physiology, or culture."

"True." Bart confirmed. "But, as far as I'm aware, there isn't a blue race of Martians."

"Wait back up." Supergirl interrupted. "Race of Martians? Like there are different colors?"

"Yes." Miss Martian answered. "As you know, the majority of Martians are Green, like my Uncle J'onn. But there are other races. The Reds, who are considered royalty. The White, like myself." After this admission she allowed herself to take on her own natural form.

Sensing M'gann's discomfort, Starling took over. "Who are, wrongly, treated as second class citizens. Then, and this is information that few off-worlders are privileged with, there is another race."

"The Blues." Supergirl guessed.

"Right." Starling affirmed. "My father's race. They are naturally predisposed to the mystic arts. Making them the ideal choice for Mars' sorcerer priesthood."

"And also the heroes of many White Martians." M'gann piped up, garnering strange looks from the rest of the squad. Including Starling.

"Why? Bart asked bluntly. The only one tactless enough to do so.

"Because," M'gann answered. "They are an offshoot of the White Martians who have become accepted by the greater population. And as such, have given many a persecuted White sanctuary. Though, few outside of the Whites and Blues know this history and Blues might find themselves facing the same attitudes should this get out." With this she gave Bart a pointed look.

"Or worse." Starling added with a far off and pained look on his face.

The group allowed the two Martians a few minutes of silence. But, a speedster's tongue could only stay still for so long.

"So, like if you're Half-Martian, why didn't you become the Manhunter's protégé?" Bart rattled of the question before Nightwing had a chance to stomp on his foot. Not that it would have done much good.

"Well, mostly because I do, actually, view Canary as my Aunt." explained Starling, though it clearly pained him. "She was the first human my father met when he was exiled to Earth. He was badly wounded and she gave him a blood transfusion. Saving his life, for a while at least."

"Which is why you have sonic powers?" Kara guessed looking like she hoped the others would forget her earlier ignorance.

"Right." Starling confirmed. "Which is cool but, it seems to have some strange effect on my other abilities."

"Like" M'gann prompted gently.

"Like my shapeshifting is extremely limited. I can density shift, add limbs, go fluid, and change coloring and size, even take on animal shape but, I'm unable to transform into any other sentient race or switch gender, even changing my features to match another human male's is hard."

"Not too surprising." M'gann assured him. "Most Blue Martians can only shift to similar sentients or animals. Their disposition to the mystic causes them to lose some of the physical prowess other Martians boast."

"Well that's good to know." Starling said sounding overly cheerful. "Maybe that explains my aversion to telepathy then. Just a quirk of the Blues"

"No… I don't think so most Blues are said to be extremely powerful telepaths though, they hardly interact with anyone due to the nature of their work. In fact, I don't know that I've ever had a conversation with one, telepathic or otherwise."

"While this is fascinating and all," Nightwing cut in. "Can you two compare notes later? I would like to know how Superboy came to be in possession of magic. Especially since Kryptonians tend to have major problems with it, like it has messed Superman up really bad in the past."

"I'll handle this one." Superboy answered, cutting off Starling's acid remark. "See, being half-human I am capable of wielding certain magics, like Atlantean. Which is extremely useful since my Kryptonian half is averse to magic."

"So it works like those shields you had? Suppressing your human DNA." Nightwing guessed.

"Not quite." Superboy answered, a smug look on his face. "It causes the energy stored in my cells to jump the human parts since it can't mix with magic. So, I get the full suite of Kyrptonian powers while not going all rage monster."

"Plus you get to shoot lighting." Bart reminded enthusiastically.

"Yep. I get to shoot lighting." Superboy nodded, shaking his head.

"Yeah. And I'll let him do it to you if you try to skip out on unloading again." Starling added as they glided into the docking bay.

(A/N)

Sorry for the long time between updates, I'll try not to take so long on the next chapter. But, you know, life happens.


End file.
